← A Journey Through American Music

Season 1

6 episodes · 2007

  1. 1Blues Beginnings

    31 May 2007

    Morgan Freeman charts the history and influence of American music from rhythm and blues to rap through interviews, archive footage and live performances.

  2. 2Travelling Blues

    07 Jun 2007

    Morgan Freeman examines the British blues boom of the 1960s, when bands including Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones helped bring the genre to a white audience.

  3. 3Sounds Of Jazz

    14 Jun 2007

    Morgan Freeman tells the story of the first few decades of jazz, from its birthplace in New Orleans and the big-band eras to bebop and other post-war developments.

  4. 4Free Jazz To Future Jazz

    21 Jun 2007

    Morgan Freeman continues charting the history of jazz, relating how after the bebop revolution of the 1940s, free jazz was formulated by Ornette Coleman in the late 1950s.

  5. 5Soul Stirrings

    28 Jun 2007

    Morgan Freeman traces the ancestry of soul music, which had its roots in the 1950s when gospel and R'n'B came together through the work of Ray Charles.

  6. 6Heart Of Soulfinale

    05 Jul 2007

    Morgan Freeman recalls the heydays of the Motown and Stax record labels in the 1960s and 70s, and explores the work of neo-soul singers such as Angie Stone.